Image recording devices having a double-side recording function (double-side printing function) are known. For example, a sheet is conveyed from a sheet feeding tray to a recording unit by a feed roller and an image is recorded on one side of the sheet. The sheet on one side of which an image has been recorded (hereinafter, referred to as a “one-side recorded sheet”) is conveyed in a switch-back manner at a downstream side of the recording unit, is returned to the upstream side of the recording unit, and is conveyed to the recording unit again. Then, an image is recorded on the other side by the recording unit.
As an example of such an image recording device, JP-A-2007-145574 discloses that a one-side recorded sheet is returned to the upstream side via a sheet feeding tray.
A frictional member is disposed on a top surface of the sheet feeding tray. The frictional member is provided to prevent so-called overlap conveyance in which several sheets are overlapped and conveyed when the number of sheets stacked in the sheet feeding tray. However, in the image recording device described in JP-A-2007-145574, when a double-side recording operation is performed on the final sheet remaining in the sheet feeding tray, the one-side recorded sheet may not enter a contact portion between the frictional member and a feed roller brought into contact with the frictional member because of the frictional force of the frictional member at the time of returning the one-side recorded sheet to the sheet feeding tray. In this case, the one-side recorded sheet may not be conveyed to the upstream and the surfaces of the frictional member, and the feed roller may be abraded due to the idling of the feed roller.